


Wandering Vagabonds

by SuperImposed



Series: Kinkfills: Dark Non-sexual Edition [6]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Homophobia, Implied Childhood Sexual Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kinkfill, M/M, Muteness due to trauma, runaways - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-04
Updated: 2014-03-04
Packaged: 2018-01-14 12:38:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1266895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperImposed/pseuds/SuperImposed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"i'd like a fic where both dave and john run away from home for whatever reasons. maybe dave got tired of not living a life like most kids and blames his brother for it and john wants to be independent. or maybe they won the game but the guardians didn't come back so they left, because well, fuck adoption. anything, really, just get creative!"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Children, alight.

**Author's Note:**

> Another kinkmeme prompt: http://homesmut.livejournal.com/9406.html?thread=15968446#t15968446

It’s nothing like either of you expected, this first meeting.

You expected over-exuberant puppy hugs and ridiculous pranks that you never would say were lame. You expected both embarrassment and affection as he introduced you to his sole caretaker, derpy derp derp grin in place.

He probably expected sick burns and ill rhymes, Bro and Cal popping up and scaring the living shit out of him by way of introduction.

Not this.


	2. Wandering free, wandering lost.

At first you don’t even recognize the kid on the bench, although that’s more due to the fact that he’s as dirty and unkempt as you feel than lack of observation skills.

It’s a gray Saturday morning, too early for too many people to be on the streets. You headed to the bus stop in hopes of - what? Getting a ride all the way to Rose’s house? Finding a magical charter that can actually get you to wherever the fuck Jade lives? You don’t even know.

You’re surprised but not alarmed by the other kid, huddled on the hard seat like it’s his last refuge. He exudes an air of utter harmlessness, and exhaustion. You nod and he nods back, and you settle on the other side of the bench, trying your damnedest not to sit too close.

He stares at you a little, and you’re trying to figure out why he seems familiar, when you spot the black frames he’s twiddling in his fingers. You’d know those _anywhere_.

“...Dave?”

He jerks, terrified, and then gapes as the pieces click together.

He holds out a dirty, calloused hand and gently touches the frames of your glasses, ghosts his fingers over your remaining buckteeth.

His red eyes lock on yours, and you feel the world being ripped out from under you.

 

The two of you huddle together on the hard as fuck bus bench, shivering in the chill left by the earlier rain. How the fuck did this happen? The odds are ridiculously astronomical, both of you not only ending up on the streets at the same time, but finding each other?

Somewhere in your shattered soul, you begin to believe in God.

You’d tell this to the derp - you know there’s a perfect quote from Con Air for it - but you can’t force the words and he just seems like he’d smile sadly at the mention.

John wraps an arm around you, and you’re surprised at how strong he is - and the fact that his touch doesn’t make you want to run. He’s warm, and comforting, and doesn’t smell quite as bad as he should, and that’s all the reason you need to curl into him.

 

You sit in silence on the bus, trying your best not to draw attention, although it’s pretty obvious that the two of you are strays. You desperately want to ask your best bro what happened, but he hasn’t said a word yet, and you’re pretty sure he’s not going to.

You cling as close to him as you can without crossing the big red line that says “HOMOSEXUALITY, NO GOING BACK”, although that really doesn’t matter at this point. But you don’t want to make him uncomfortable - he _is_ you best friend, maybe your only one in the world.

That leads you to wondering about what other so-called “friends” you could contact. Karl’s probably out of the question - all you could get from him when you talked last was a rushed apology and a door shut in your face. Eric dropped you like a bad habit when he found out, although you think it might be from jealousy rather than disgust...Valerie is just completely pissed about the whole thing.

All that really leaves is Rose and Jade - you were actually wondering if you could approach Dave or not, but that decision seems to have been made for you.

Geez, even your internal monologues are wordy! You decide to calm down a little, and glance at your friend. He’s dozing almost peacefully against your shoulder, and you smile.

 

You wake up to someone gently stroking your hair, and almost flip your shit entirely. You jump away, scrabbling at the hand, and only belatedly realize that it’s John, just trying to comfort you. He looks shocked, and you probably look worse, because you can see a touch of pity and that’s just not something you can handle, not from him.

You slip on your shades, put the mask in place, and nod at him.

He doesn’t look entirely reassured, but you’re just happy that he doesn’t say anything past “Bad dreams, huh,” when you settle against his side again.

Then your stomach grumbles and the tense atmosphere dissipates completely. John chuckles and digs through his backpack, coming up with a bag of candy corn. He grins sheepishly when you stare. “Some detective guy in the last town felt sorry for me,” is all he supplies, but you don’t care because he’s filling your hands with candy and you are fucking _starving_.

You down it as slowly as you can, one piece at a time, and even though you watch mournfully as he stows it again, you know better than to ask for more.

He slips a few extras into your hand when he thinks you’re not looking, and your heart grows three sizes. Unironically.


	3. Hope.

You get off at the next stop and head over to the Greyhound building, looking over maps. You not only find the route that will take you to Rose - you find a payphone.

Through careful calculation of your pooled cash, you think you can pull it off.

The only problem is you don’t know her number.

Dave rubs the back of your neck gingerly when you announce this, and manages a tiny smile.

“I guess we wait until we get into town and then find a phone book,” you mutter, sincerely hoping that there will be payphones. You quirk a grin. “Or we could just find the biggest house in town and knock on the door,” you add, which gets an actual laugh out of Dave. You grin and turn to him.

“What, you think I don’t look respectable enough?” You step back and spread your arms, displaying all your dirty wind-breakered, ripped-jeaned, askew-spectacled glory. Dave snickers again, and you begin to feel a little hope, as well as another feeling that you break off the moment it rears its head.

You place a ginger hand on your friend’s shoulder - when did you get so much taller than him? - and the both of you break down laughing at the image of your ragamuffin selves invading the home of the classiest two ladies you know.


	4. Hopeless.

John’s pacing finally ends, abruptly, as he plops down next to you. He turns his head away a little, so that you won’t see his tears.

“It’s not fair,” he mumbles, and while it’s a childish comment, it’s also an absolute truth. And after all, you _are_ kids, aren’t you? You just feel so.... _old_. You loop an arm around his broad shoulders and pull him close, rubbing your hand on his chilled body.

If you ever find that thieving bastard, you’re going to break his head in with a two-by-four. Bad enough that he steals the only cash that two helpless kids have, but _he made John cry._

A hobo gave the two of you a can of beans earlier, but that’s really not going to be enough. Not if you’re going to walk the remaining forty miles in the oncoming winter.

You were _so close_ , so close to a chance at safety, and even though you know, deep in your shriveled heart, that it would have ended with Lalonde’s mom tossing you out the door or turning you in to the cops, you can’t help but feel like a golden opportunity was ripped out of your hands.

 

You got so far. Far enough to discover that Rainbow Falls is not a town, and that the Lalondes either don’t exist or aren’t listed. You wonder vaguely if it was a cruel prank from the beginning - there was no reason for a random girl online to _really_ give you her contact info, after all - and all you can feel anymore is a kind of hopeless dread, and Dave’s hand.

You look at him, your friend, your bro, your only companion, and he looks back at you. Behind those shades, you know, he’s wearing the same expression, thinking the same thoughts.

Well. Maybe not _all_ the same thoughts.

You have nowhere else to go, no idea what else to do, and you decide that if he abandons you now, it’s just another nail in your casket. It’s not a big deal. Really, it’s not.

You kiss him.

He responds instantly, eyes widening behind the shades and hands shoving you away. He scrambles, back, breathing fast and heavy, and fear grips your guts. Not the fear of being discovered again, but the terror of knowing you just drove your friend away.

“Dave I...” your voice breaks, “I’m sorry, I didn’t-”

He kisses you back.

He’s shaking like a leaf and you wonder vaguely if his fear comes from the same source, but then you’re wrapping your arms around him and being his anchor, and he calms and melts into you.

It’s nothing like it was with Karl. It’s grimy and you can taste stuff you don’t really want to, but his lips are butterfly-light on yours and then closer, warmer, brimming with passion. You can feel his heartbeat trying to break through his chest and you just hold him close, knowing that he understands you and you understand him, even if he hasn’t said a word since you met.

Maybe you’re not _completely_ hopeless.


	5. Alright in the end.

You and John are freezing on a parkbench when you see her.

She’s classy as fuck and looks out of place, walking in the late fall chill in a lab coat and heels. But something seems to click when she sees you two, rapidly turning and walking away. That’s fine - plenty of people don’t want to deal with homeless folks, not even the kids.

You’re surprised when she comes back.

 

“J’n.”

You twitch in your sleep, dreaming of meeting Dave for the first time, him showing you his sweet tricks and sick burns.

“John.”

His voice is a little more hoarse than you expected-

You wake up.

Dave is _talking_.

You feel warm, and realize that in the midst of your sleep, someone laid a blanket over the both of you. Dave shoves something into your unresisting hold, and you almost drop the hot styrofoam. The smell indicates that you currently have your grimy little paws around a cup of coffee, and you almost scald yourself taking a sip.

It’s only after you hear Dave’s tiny chuckle at your reaction that you notice the third person - a very pretty lady with elegantly coiffed blonde hair, and striking violet eyes.

She smiles warmly at you, and for the first time in well over a month, you feel safe.

“G’s w’t,” Dave mumbles, still not accustomed to talking again. You blink.

“What?”

He points a thumb at her, wide grin in place. “H’m base. L’londe,” he continues, when you look puzzled.

You almost drop the coffee again

 

The two of you fall asleep in the warm car - both of you feel bad for getting into such a nice vehicle while so grimy, but Ms. Lalonde waves it off entirely. She doesn’t bother waking you until you arrive at her secluded, monstrous home - the woman indicates that the two of you stay put for the time being.

Moments later she’s power-walking back out the door, a short blonde girl struggling to keep up. “I don’t know what could _possibly_ be so-”

She stops as you slowly open the car door, sheepish, worried smile on your face. What if she doesn’t recognize you? What if she’s repulsed, or scared, or-

“Dave?”

Rose runs up and hugs you almost before you can nod; John gets out of the car and turns it into a group hug before Ms. Lalonde herds you into the blissfully warm house.

 

You’re sipping hot cocoa in front of the fire, feeling warm, clean, and _safe_. You, Rose, and even Dave make small talk as the three of you valiantly ignore Rose’s Mom screaming into the phone a few rooms away. You don’t hear masculine bellowing in return, so she’s probably still on the line with Dave’s Bro.

Rose pushes the syrupy plate a little closer, smiling sheepishly. You grin and take another pancake, content to pretend that all the drama of the last few months never happened. Dave seems to be of the same mind, hand curled in yours and chin bumping against his chest as he nods off.

Rose isn’t as clinical and snarky as you expected, but most of that’s likely sympathy for what you’ve gone through. You chatter aimlessly and she responds, smooth smile turning up whenever you say something particularly dorky.

She sees the two of you to a bedroom - apparently right next to hers - when it’s clear that neither of you can keep your eyes open for another second. There’s only one bed, but it’s large and soft. Even then, you and Dave could probably be okay sleeping side-by-side in a cardboard box.

You curl up against your friend/proto-boyfriend’s warm back, and sleep.


End file.
